The new and improved Madison Keys is a tightrope walking, nightmare stalking legend, and when the pressure grows to a boil she stays ice-cold.
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The 30-year-old saved match points en route to victory for the fourth time in 2025, defeating Eva Lys 1-6 6-3 7-6(1) to book her spot in the third round at the Cincinnati Open.
Madison Keys now has FOUR wins from match point down this year.
Keys saved two match points while serving at 6-5, 15-40. She also rallied from 4-1 down in the second set and then 3-0 in the third set to complete her Houdini act.
“I just kept trying to listen to everyone here cheering me,” Keys said in her on-court interview. “It helped me get back into the match and across the finish line.”
Keys defeated Iga Swiatek from match points down at the Australian Open, then took out Sofia Kenin from match point down at Roland-Garros. In Montreal the American saved two to get past Karolina Muchova.
Keys has won ten matches from a set down this year, and 15 three-setters overall.
She will face Japanese qualifier Aoi Ito in the third round.
Grand Slam champions keep stepping up to face teen sensation Victoria Mboko in Montreal, and the kid keeps knocking them down.
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For the third time in six matches at the Omnium Banque Nationale, Mboko defeated a former major champion, as she advanced to her maiden WTA final with a 1-6 7-5 7-6(4) victory over Elena Rybakina.
“It was an incredible match,” Mboko, who has also defeated Sofia Kenin and Coco Gauff on her way to the final, told the Montreal crowd. “I want to say thanks to everyone who supported me tonight. It was electric, and I’m very happy – oh my god!”
Mboko battled over two hours and 45 minutes, rallying from a set down and twice from a break down in the final set as she saved a match point and finally pushed past the No.9 seed in a tiebreak, winning the final three points to lock up a spot in the final where a fourth former major champion – Naomi Osaka – will be waiting.
Osaka defeated Clara Tauson in Wednesday’s second semifinal, 6-2 7-6(7).
Mboko survived despite winning only 35 percent of her second-serve points, thanks to a 72 percent first-serve percentage and a very timely break game. With pinpoint returns, stellar defense, and plenty of guile she earned six breaks of Rybakina’s serve as she locked up her second consecutive Top 20 win and became the youngest woman to reach the final in Canada since Belinda Bencic in 2015.
What was Mboko most proud of?
“I would say my ability to kind of come back in the third set,” she said. “I feel like after I had that fall, I wasn’t in the greatest spirits. Of course, she was playing really great tennis on top of that, but I’m happy that I kept my composure, and I was kind of patient in the right moments.
“I just feel really happy that I was able to bounce back after being down. Even a match point…”
Mboko is also the only Canadian woman to ever defeat three former Slam champions in the same event in Open Era history.
“It was very difficult, Elena is a very good player, but anything can happen,” Mboko said.
The victory was not accomplished without adversity.
Mboko took a fall in the second game of the final set, and had her right wrist examined after the third game, but she was able to play through the pain to get the victory against the woman who knocked her out of the Washington, DC draw last week.
“Unfortunately I fell,” Mboko said. “But everybody was supporting me and pushing me through.”
A remarkable effort from a young woman who is playing in her seventh WTA main draw, and just her third at the WTA 1000 level.
Ranked 85 at the start of the week, Mboko is up to 34 in the WTA live rankings at the moment. She was outside the Top 300 when the season started but 41 wins and just eight losses across all levels have propelled the former junior world No.6 to her current perch.
A Battle Royale
It was tense from start to finish against Rybakina, who rallied from a break down to level at 5-5 in the second set, just two games from the win. But Mboko won eight of the final ten points of the set to force a decider.
In the third, Rybakina was in the driver’s set again, leading 4-2 and 5-3 with a break, but she failed to convert a match point while serving at 5-4 and was broken.
After breaking back in the next game, she was broken at love by Mboko and a tiebreak ensued.
ALLEZ VICKY 💪
Following an EPIC three setter, Victoria Mboko rallies back to defeat Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) to reach her first WTA final!#OBN25pic.twitter.com/1iP9zIHzNw
The Canadian saved her best for last – a line-licking forehand that went for a winner and a 5-4 lead in the breaker. Two points later she sank to her knees in disbelief, another Grand Slam champion, another victim of a raw, talented phenom on the rise.
Madison Keys is having the year of her life, and she’s overcoming hurdles at seemingly every tour stop. Today in Montreal, another shining example as the American saved a pair of match points to get past Karolina Muchova, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, to book a quarterfinal spot at the Omnium Banque Nationale.
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“Definitely really happy to get that win,” Keys said. “She’s such a great player, and she’s always such a tough opponent to go against. To be able to, after losing the first set, get back into the match, even being match points down, to be able to figure it out is always a good day.”
2016 finalist Keys has now won from match points down three times this season – against Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open, against Sofia Kenin at Roland-Garros, and now Montreal, where either Swiatek or Clara Tauson will be her next opponent.
Muchova had a pair of match points with Keys serving at 4-5 in the third. Previously, Keys, who improved to 35-10 on the season with her win, dropped the opening set before hitting back to take the middle set without surrendering a break.
In the third Muchova and Keys traded breaks, then the Czech saved three break points while serving at 2-2 to stay on serve. She then had the opportunities with Keys serving at 4-5, 30-40, and six points later at ad-out.
Keys held her nerve and serve, then converted her third break point for 6-5. She converted her second match point to clinch the hard-earned win in two hours and 21 minutes.
Osaka Routs Sevastova
Naomi Osaka powered past Anastasija Sevastova 6-1, 6-0 in the second round of four women’s singles round of 16 encounters on Saturday, the Japanese recording her 20th win of the season to match her entire 2024 total.
Osaka got the win in 48 minutes as 386-ranked Sevastova had very little left after winning three three-setters to reach the round of 16.
She will face either Amanda Anisimova or Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals.
Olympic gold-medal champion officially withdraws from US Open.
By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Monday, July 21, 2025
Photo credit: Zheng Qinwen Instagram
Zheng Qinwen has withdrawn from the US Open.
The Olympic gold-medal champion is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on her right elbow and will be sidelined as she heals from surgery.
Frenchwoman Leolia Jeanjean moves into the US Open main draw with Zheng's departure.
Zheng reached the US Open quarterfinals last September losing to eventual-champion Aryna Sabalenka.
The Chinese power player's Flushing Meadows quarterfinal result was part of a strong surge to end the season that saw Zheng reach three finals in her last five tournaments of 2024 as she lost to Sabalenka in the Wuhan final, defeated Sofia Kenin to win the Tokyo title and reached the final of the WTA Finals in Riyadh bowing to Coco Gauff.
"Over the past months, I’ve been dealing with persistent pain in my right elbow during training and matches. Despite trying various treatments to manage it, the discomfort never fully went away," Zheng wrote in an Instagram post over the weekend. "After consulting with elbow specialists and discussing thoroughly with my team, we decided that arthroscopic surgery was the best option to fully resolve the issue.
"Yesterday, I underwent the procedure successfully, and I’m grateful to have it behind me."
It is uncertain when the former Australian Open finalist can return though Zheng said she envisions "just a short break."
"Now begins the recovery journey. Over the next few weeks and months, I’ll be focusing entirely on rehab—doing everything I can to come back stronger and healthier," Zheng said. "This is just a short break, and I see it as a necessary step toward a better version of myself on court."
The world No. 6 reached the quarterfinals or better in six of her last eight tournaments.
A Rome semifinalist, Zheng reached the Roland Garros quarterfinals and Queen's Club semifinals bowing to Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova before she suffered a first-round loss to Katerina Siniakova at Wimbledon.
